Sugar-producing product.



UNITED STAT S Paranr GIEORGE WHITMAN McMULLEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

suess-rsonucm's rsonucr.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Sept. 15, .1908.

Application filed July 22, 1907. Serial No. 384,970.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE WHITMAN McMULLsN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofYIllinois, have invented or discovered a new and useful Sugar-Producing Product as an Article of Manufacture, of which thefulloWing is a specification.

. This invention relates to a new and useful sugar prb ducin'g product, and thesalien t objects of the invention are to provide a'prod- 1 not which facilitates and economizes the proand economical the saving of a valuable by. product incident to the recovery of sugar duction of sugar; minimises the loss and therefore affords a larger yield from ''i-': gt-ven quantity of material, and renders practicable from the main product.

. saturation and diffusion.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. i

I have discovered tliatsuganproducing plants, notably the sugar beet, may be so treated as to greatly facilitate and econoreducing the beets to a desiccated and finely -mize the recovery of the sugar therefrom by I comminuted condition before attempting the practicable extent deterioration and chempresent knowledge lcal change, and after suitably cleansing the beets, rer uce the same to slices or relatively small bodies preparatory to drying the same. It is important that the beets should be sliced or cut as distinguished from mashing or grinding,

those skilled in the beet sugar art. I next desiccate the cut up beets, and so far'as my is concerned this must be accomplished under carefully controlled conditions and in a peculiar manner if the full, or practically the full, crystallizable, ornoninverted, sugar content is to be reserved without inversion or loss, in the esiccated material. This drying'step may be practie improved product described herein 1s characteristically new for reasons well understood by cally carried out substantially as follows: I place the sliced or cut up beets, in a considerably distributed or spread out condition, in a substantially closed chamber wherein the material is subjected to a moderate but continued evaporating temperature, but maintain the interior of the chamber as nearly free from or devoid ofdistinctcurrents of air. as practicable, so that the material being desiccated is constantly enveloped by the IIlOlS ture expelled therefrom. This moisture is continuously removed by creating and maintairiing a relatively low vapor pressure a part of the chamber away from that part of the chamber wherein the material is supported. By suitably arranging the; apparatus and material, I induce a constant vapor flow mm the localities of higher vapor pressure, i. e. that part of the chamber wherein the material is supported, to that part of the chamber wherein the lower va or pressure obtains, and there condense and the vapor 'continuously It is to be noted that this vapor flow from the re oils of relativelyhighfto the regions of re atively' low I 'vapor pressure is independent from and asfar as practicable unaccompaniedby acorrespon ing bodily flow or current of, air. That is to say, the air within the chamber is maintained as nearly practicable dead It is important that in so desiccating, the

temperature be controlled so as to remain approximately uniform in'that part ofthe c amber wherein the product is supported and that it should not rise high enough to effect any substantial chemical change in the saccharine constituents of the material under treatment. Practically I have determined that the temperature should be kept, in the vicinity of 155 degrees Fahrenheit, but it is prob able that a temperature somewhat higher would not be dangerous, especially if notmaintained at'such higher temperature for too long a period. On the other hand. the

. rate of evaporation and the economy of evaporation is to a considerable extent proportional to thetemperature, and it is therefore desirable to maintain the temperature as high as permissible without subjecting the material to danger ofdeterioration. Ihave demonstrated that desiccation may be successfully and fairly rapidly effected attem eratures considerably lower than that a we specified by pursuing the method described. It will'be understood that the condensation of themoisture expelled from the beets will precipitate be efiected by bringing the va or into conapparatus,preferably surface condensers.

Having desiccated the product, I next reduce the same to finely coinminuted, 'i. e. granulated or pulverulent, form. This comminution may be effected at any desired time after the desiccation, either immediately or at some future period. ihe desiccated cossettes keep perfectly for any reasonable length of time, if he t reasonably dry.

In reducing the diied cossettes to comminuted form, I- use any suitable grinding or granuiating machine, and in cornminuting the material I endeavor to avoid as far as practicable reducin the material to an impalpable powder. In its preferred condition of c'omminution, the roduct may be aptly described being in the form of meal.

It is the object of my invention to desiccate the material to a conditionwhich will prevent fermentation or molding under all ordinary exposures. Under varying cliidition's, the degree of desiccation may be t varied within reasonable limits. 1111M ctice I prefer to dry until the content of moisture is-wellbelow twenty percent. of the weight of the desiccated product, but undoubtedly in some climates it. may safely contain a somewhat higher percentag of moisture.

I have :demonstrated that the crystalliza- 'ble sugar content contained in the beets in their fresh state when harvested, is fully preserved and retained in un deteriorated condition in this desiccated beet meal. I have tact with suitable relatively co d condensing also demonstrated that the recovery of the sugar therefrom by diffusion may be accomplished much more rapidly than when treatmg the green or undesiccated material; that the percentage of purity is fully as high and usually higher than with the green product; that the number of diffusion battery units required to effect substantially com lete extraction is less than that require for the green product and that the exhausted or extracted meal may be dried either by expressa ing or by draining and evaporatin atsuch a pronounced economy as to make 0 it a valuable commercial by product. Moreover, this exhausted meal is in ideal condition for conversion into animal food.

I claim as my invention:

1. As a new article of manufacture, sugar producing plant, dried, containing less than moisture, comminuted, adapted for indefinite preservation without deterioration, and containing practically the same amount of uninverted sugar as before being dried, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, sugar beet, dried, containing less than 30% mois ture, reduced to the condition of meal, adapted for indefinite preservation without deterioration, and containing practically the same amount of uninverted sugar as before being dried, substantially as described.

GEORGE WHlTMAN MCMULLEN.

Witnesses ALBERT H. GRAVES, EMILIE Ross. 

